. >> raised by her divorced mother, stephens' father was nfl player john stephens. he died in a car accident three years ago and she keeps a photo of them on her twitter page. an avid tweeter, stephens winning ways more than tripled her followers with celebrities like shaquille o'neal posting when you defeat a legend you become a legend. singer john legend tweeting, i was so proud. >> i want john legend to sing at my wedding, i was like, oh, my god, he tweeted me, what will i do. >> the cinderella at the stef fence story will have to wait, just moments ago she lost the semifinal with azarenka. while she lost the match, she has clearly won a place on the tennis world stage. >> not to mention a lot of people's hearts. after beating williams, stephens joked she'd be putting up a new tennis poster in her room right up next to serena. and one with her own picture. >> that is such a cool moment not only to compete against your idol but to defeat them. >> kobe bryant used to say it was weird to walk on the same floor as michael jordan, the man he modeled himself against. >